Oh hi. I’m back. We took a vacation to Japan last month and re-entry into my home time zone has been a challenge. We got home on May 2 and I think I’m almost adjusted, but now my work and social calendars are keeping me from the blog.

We had planned to go to Japan in the fall, but we found an amazing flight deal (It was less than a flight to San Francisco!) and decided that we had to go for it. I have zero regrets because the weather was beautiful almost every day and really, I could go to Japan every day, so not having to wait until fall was just fine with me.

This time we spent most of our time in Tokyo with a side trip to Hiroshima. Hiroshima was gorgeous and emotional and inspiring. I’m glad we finally went. I’d like to think we paved the way for President Obama’s trip later this month.

I have so many pictures to share for our latest adventure and gardening season is starting up (even though it’s freezing here this week–literally! I had to cover my plants on Saturday because we had a frost warning!) so I will be back in this space soon with some posts.

In the meantime, I’ll be reading my book club book and getting ready for a little party Peggy and I are hosting for Karen & Jackie’s birthdays this month!

I was charmed by the sweet donut shapes and the waxed paper bag envelopes. They end up looking like the treats Naoto brings home from Stan’s Donuts. They are flat cards, so they are perfect for short hellos, thank you notes, thinking of you notes, orrrrrr…Valentines?

How is Letter Month going for you? So far, I’ve kept up with sending at least one letter, package, or postcard a day, although I almost missed Sunday and had to crawl out of bed to write a quick postcard–oops!

P.S. This is not a sponsored post, but Chronicle is offering 30% off and free shipping with the code SMOOCHES. (Hey, I get their emails.) Just in case you want some DoughNotes, too.

The last time I went thrifting with my parents, I scored a fun postal find–this postal truck stamp holder. I’ve been looking for a stamp holder for my roll of one cent bobcat stamps so I was thrilled when my mom found this in the kid’s section at Goodwill. The stamps go in a little drawer in the back of the truck and there’s a little sponge in the front of the truck that pulls out so you could wet your stamps (back before they were stickers.) Sadly, in spite of what I’m showing above, the stamps don’t really fit. Because the truck was made for the rolls of perforated lickable stamps, the adhesive versions with their paper backing don’t fit in the truck. And the roll is too big, too. But I’m determined to make it work, so I cut off twenty stamps from the roll and trimmed the excess paper backing off the top and the bottom, rolled them back into a coil and made them fit! It’s a lame amount of work for a few stamps though. (But I’m not opposed.)

I have a small collection of mail things and someday they will have a permanent home someplace in our apartment. Right now the truck is on my desk (along with a thousand other things) and it’s the last big thing that needs to be tidied and cleaned and decorated for Christmas.

I will be back later this week with pictures of the tree…and hopefully the rest of the place if I can finish up a couple of paper projects.

The ladies from the Letter Writers Alliance will be in Forest Park on Sunday to host their last in-person letter social of the year! I’ll be there catching up on my letter piles and (probably more likely) chatting with other letter writing fans from my neighborhood. If you feel like joining in, here are the details.
P.S. Super fantastic postcard pictured above is from Craftgasm’s Shop.

A quick reminder, if you live in the Oak Park, IL area and want to join in on the party for the Oak Park Post Office’s 80th Anniversary, it’s happening tomorrow, Saturday, August 29th, from 10am-2pm. There will be popcorn and giveaways and a tour of the gorgeous building and a special postmark…lots of postal fun. And regular postal business will be happening too, so buy some stamps, mail your packages, snag a passport or a money order. I’m furiously writing a stack of postcards to mail out tomorrow. Write, write, write!

Here in the U.S we are celebrating Independence Day! Naoto and I are going to relax and garden a bit before we head into the city later to see the Cubs game and fireworks at Wrigley Field afterwards. (Wish us luck battling the crowds!)
Happy 4th if you’re celebrating, happy weekend if you’re not. And to my letter writing friends, don’t forget there’s a Virtual Letter Social tomorrow, all day long, no matter where you’re writing from and a live video chat started at 3PM Central Time. Maybe I’ll see you there?